Dam to Dam 2016

I was very excited to run in my very first Dam to Dam race ever and with how well my training has progressed I had very high expectations. As mentioned in a previous post, I had set a goal to finish in under 2 hours 20 minutes. Sadly, I had a pretty rough race and didn't even come close to that finish time. My official time was 2:29:58 and I was extremely frustrated and disappointed well before I even crossed the finish line.

I'll start with the negative so that I can end the post on a positive note. 8 miles in I was on track to destroy my goal when I started to feel really hot. I could tell the temperature had risen quite a bit and the humidity was fairly high as well. I started identifying some signs of heat stress in myself, I became light headed and was struggling to keep my eyes open at times, I also started to feel nauseated. By mile 9, I knew the only way that I could finish was to slow down considerably, from that point on I stayed focus on finishing. The most frustrating part for me was that I still had a lot in me. My legs felt great the entire way and I never even reached the point of breathing hard.

After spending most of the morning and afternoon upset with myself, I started to realize that it wasn't my fault at all. I had certainly put in more than enough time training and my body was ready. That being said, I can't control the weather and today just wasn't my day. I also know that I made the right decision to pull back when I started not feeling well. My parents watched a woman collapse and have to be taken off on a stretcher just a couple hundred yards from the finish line, I'm glad that wasn't me. Speaking of my parents, they were able to watch me run for the first time since high school cross country.

Dad and I after the race

Mom and I after the race

The day wasn't all a loss as I did manage to finish the race and, with how well my legs were feeling, I had a great kick the last quarter mile. Another big win for me is that I was able to shave off over 15 minutes from my previous half marathon PR, set at the Des Moines half marathon last October, where I ran a time of 2:45:42.

Approaching the finish line

I still have a lot of races left this year, including another chance at the half marathon distance in September. Next up is my first ever triathlon on July 10 in Waterloo/CF.